Contador wins Tours 18th stage; Armstrong moves to third overall

ANNECY, France - Alberto Contador won the final time trial in the Tour de France on Thursday, and Lance Armstrong moved up one spot to third place overall.

Contador now looks all but assured of his second Tour victory after increasing his overall lead in the 18th stage, in which riders embarked one-by-one down the start ramp for the 40.5-kilometre stage in and around Annecy.

While the stage was mostly flat, riders had to contend with the midlevel Bluffy pass climb, which snaked upward for 3.7 kilometres with magnificent vistas over the hill-ringed lake.

Several riders, including British time-trial specialist David Millar, said the course layout favoured climbers because of that ascent.

"I felt like I had stopped dead in my tracks," on the climb, Millar said.

The race against the clock started under cloudy skies. The sun eventually broke through, but rain doused the course by late afternoon and left patches of water on the roads.

Armstrong was relatively strong at the start, only 29 seconds slower than Contador through the second intermediate time check at the 25-kilometre mark. His main time deficit came on Bluffy - which peaked at 28.5 kilometres. There, he was 1:12 behind Contador.

"I felt good at the beginning, I felt smooth, but there was a tail wind, so maybe everyone felt good," Armstrong said. "I just wasn't that strong on the climb."

After the stage, the 37-year-old Texan announced that he and U.S. electronics vendor Radio Shack are forming a new cycling team that will compete in next year's Tour.

Armstrong came out of retirement this season to ride for the Kazakh-funded squad headed by his longtime mentor Johan Bruyneel, who led him to his seven straight Tour wins.